Howrah-Delhi Rajdhani to travel faster

The Rajdhani Express plying between Howrah to New Delhi might travel faster and cut down its travel time by an hour and 30 minutes. The Indian Railways have decided to carry out ‘push-pull’ operations in Rajdhani Express which will help it to travel faster and to cut down its total travel time. This decision is being taken following the launch of the train set ‘Train 18’ in 2018. The ‘push-pull’ system operates with two locomotives placed at either end of the compartments and it operates like compact train sets with the two locomotives operating as one. The Eastern Railways recently conducted a few trails of these ‘push-pull’ operations in Rajdhani Express. Nikhil Kumar Chakraborty, CPRO, Eastern Railway (ER) said, “A 22-coach LHB rake started from platform 9 of Howrah for a trial up to Gaya. It had WAP7 locomotives at either end. The idea is to achieve a speed of 130 kmph between Howrah and New Delhi. It has been projected that such ‘push-pull’ operations for the Rajdhani will cut nearly 90 minutes from its travel time due to quicker acceleration and deceleration”. In a ‘push-pull’ system two locomotives are attached to the train, the one at the front is called the master and the rear one is called the slave. Both the locomotives provide more power to the train and help it to travel faster. When brakes are applied and released together, the time required for deceleration and acceleration is also lesser, making it more efficient. An official of the Eastern Railway said, “During the trial, all parameters were studied and the results recorded. The locomotive in the front is known as the Master Loco and the one at the rear is the Slave Loco. The two are connected both electrically and electronically through special couplers. The WAP7 locomotives are one of the most advanced and were from the Electric Loco Shed, Howrah”.